PSPD in English Peace/Disarmament 2020-06-19   2141

[Statement] The explosion of the inter-Korean liaison office revealed the present state of inter-Korean relations

The Explosion of the Inter-Korean Liaison Office Revealed the Present State of Inter-Korean Relations

The ROK government should make its every effort to keep the agreements between the two Koreas

 

16 June 2020

 

The DPRK finally blew up the inter-Korean liaison office building in Kaesong. Even if this is a result of the failing performance of agreements in the past two years, it is nothing but a painful tragedy for the DPRK to reach a situation to demolish a symbol of communication and cooperation between the two Koreas.

 

The DPRK even implied the abrogation of the agreement on the implementation of the historic Panmunjom Declaration in the military domain. The DPRK is not responding to the channels already and has hinted the possibility to continue military actions by mentioning “an action plan for taking measures to make the army advance again into the zones that had been demilitarized under the north-south agreement”, etc. There shouldn’t be any more actions to aggravate the situation. The DPRK should immediately stop actions that cut off communication with the ROK and build up tension.

 

The ROK government should also gravely look back on its responsibilities on having let the situation degenerate up to this much by not fulfilling the agreements. Even though the two Koreas agreed to completely cease all hostile acts against each other, the ROK continued the joint military exercises with the US only on a smaller scale, pursuing an increase in the military budget and adopting offensive weaponry. The exchange and cooperation between the two Koreas also failed to go beyond the economic sanctions against the DPRK or the block of UNC. The talks between the DPRK and the US also stopped in the delay of the negotiations on the reciprocal steps between the two sides. In the meanwhile, mutual confidence building dwindled and the peace process on the Korean peninsula failed to move forward.

 

The ROK government should devise all means to uphold the inter-Korean agreements. In particular, it would not be appropriate to advance militaristic arrangements such as “strong confrontations to military actions from the DPRK”. What the government should be doing right now is to uphold the precious achievements like the inter-Korean agreements such as the Panmunjom Declaration which the two Koreas brought up together, and work to rebuild trust. We must not go back to the past when the militaristic tension pervaded into our daily life and the lives of people left precarious amidst confrontation and contestation. Steps toward peace on the Korean peninsula cannot come to a stop at this moment. We urge both governments of the two Koreas to do their utmost best to bring back trust. 

 

People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD)

 

>> Korean version see here

 

 

번역 : 윤혜원 자원활동가 / Translation : Hyewon Yoon 

감수 : 참여연대 평화군축센터 / Proofreading : PSPD

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